Maree opens above Michelin-starred Lielle in Los Angeles on September 9, with Marcus Jernmark trading tasting-menu formality for a 70-seat French-California bistro and wine bar. Maree bistro Los Angeles belongs on your opening-week list if you want a larger, more casual way into Jernmark's cooking; book the dining room on OpenTable, or try the kitchen counter and bar as a walk-in.
The key decision is not whether Jernmark can cook. Lielle already gives you the credential signal: Michelin recognition, a tasting-menu address below this new room, and a chef who has been working in restaurants since he was 14, according to Eater LA. The question is whether Maree is the smarter reservation for the night you actually want: pasta, bouillabaisse, wine, and a burger capped at 30 orders a day, rather than a formal meal downstairs.
Why Maree Bistro Los Angeles Opens Above Lielle
Maree's location matters because Jernmark is not opening across town or testing a disconnected side project. He is putting a 70-seat bistro and wine bar directly above Lielle, his Michelin-starred tasting menu restaurant in Los Angeles. That makes Maree the practical play for diners who follow chef-driven openings but do not want every dinner to revolve around a tasting-menu cadence.
Compared with Lielle, Maree is the better call for a four-person dinner, a spontaneous bar attempt, or a night when you want Jernmark's kitchen without committing to a set format. Lielle remains the move if the point is the Michelin-starred tasting menu. Maree is for the reader who wants escargot beignets, a glass or bottle from a broader European-leaning list, and the option to order pasta and sides selectively.
Eater LA reports that Jernmark is 44 and has been working in restaurants since age 14. That matters here because Maree reads less like a trend-chasing bistro than a chef using a bigger room to cook the dishes he wants to keep around. San Francisco's Zuni Cafe is cited as inspiration, specifically for its timeliness and consistency. If you understand Zuni as a restaurant built on repetition, restraint, and regulars, that reference tells you more than any opening slogan could.
A 70-seat dining room gives Maree more capacity than the scarcity-driven formats that define much of ambitious Los Angeles dining. It will not make opening month easy, and it does not make the 30-a-day burger any less limited, but it gives you more paths in: a reserved table in the main dining room, or a walk-in attempt at the kitchen counter or bar.
The French-California Menu at Maree
Maree's menu is the reason to book early, especially if you like French technique but do not want heavy sauces dictating the meal. Jernmark told Eater LA that he wants to move away from Escoffier-era weight while keeping a clear tie to French tradition and California eating.
Just because it's delicious doesn't mean you want to have four snails in your mouth at the same time1
Marcus Jernmark, Chef
The opening menu gives you several clear order priorities. Start with the escargot beignets if you want the dish most likely to define Maree's first wave of tables. Eater LA reports that Jernmark developed them after a Kyoto meal where maitake mushrooms were served with snails in the shell. At Maree, grilled maitakes and spinach are cooked down with bechamel and snail butter, formed into a ball, fried in beignet batter, and served on a traditional escargot plate with snail butter emulsion.
That is where Maree separates itself from a generic bistro revival. The dish does not ask you to eat a plate of snails because the category demands it. It uses mushroom volume, frying, and butter to make the format easier to share. If you are ordering for a table, secure this first.
The prawn cocktail is the second obvious opening order. Jernmark told Eater LA he wanted shrimp cocktail on the menu, but Maree swaps in prawns cooked until the exterior just starts to turn white, then finishes them with salt and lemon. The sauce is made in house with the restaurant's hot sauce, ketchup, fresh tomatoes, and horseradish. The prawns come with bread pudding for dipping, plus a reduction of prawn heads and California peppercorns.
Other starters include grilled Cerignola olives, truffled onion soup, sourdough bread with cultured butter, halibut crudo with late-summer citrus, heirloom tomato salad, and beef tartare with nasturtium. For two people, order beignets, prawns, one raw or vegetable dish, then pasta. For four, add the tartare and bread. This is a menu built for sharing without turning the table into a committee meeting.
Homemade Pasta, Bouillabaisse, and the 30-Order Burger
The pasta section should be your anchor if you are trying to understand how much of Lielle's technique carries upstairs. Eater LA reports that Maree will make homemade pasta daily, as Jernmark does for Lielle. The opening lineup includes spaghetti vongole, ricotta ravioli with fig XO sauce, and tagliatelle with aged veal ragout.
Those three pastas point in different directions, which helps with ordering. Spaghetti vongole is the cleanest fit with the French-California brief and the wine bar side of the room. Ricotta ravioli with fig XO sauce is the more curious order. Tagliatelle with aged veal ragout is the comfort order. If you are choosing one pasta on a first visit, pick based on the rest of the table: vongole with prawns and crudo, tagliatelle with burger or veal sausage, ravioli if you want the least predictable plate.
The mains go larger: bouillabaisse, veal sausage, grilled meats with beurre de cafe sauce, and the hamburger au poivre. The burger will be limited to 30 orders a day, which turns it into Maree's scarcity test. If you care about trying it, do not assume a late table will be enough. The safest move is an earlier dinner reservation or a prompt walk-in attempt at the bar.
This is not a smash burger. Eater LA reports that Maree's hamburger uses a seven- to eight-ounce patty, cooked in a pan, finished over Japanese charcoal, set on a homemade brioche bun, and topped with chopped barbecued oyster mushrooms braised in vinegar, Espanola sauce, crispy onion rings, and fried kale chips. It is split in half and covered with four-peppercorn au poivre sauce. If you are tired of thin patties and special sauce replicas, prioritize it. If you want a casual burger-and-beer situation, this is probably more restaurant order than bar snack.
Sides include pommes frites, pommes puree, roasted summer squash, and sauteed spinach with lemon balm. Desserts include caneles and dark chocolate mousse with hazelnuts. Those details tell you Maree is better suited to a full dinner than a single glass-and-snack stop, even though the bar will take walk-ins.
Wine Bar Access and the Room to Request
Maree is also a wine bar, but the useful distinction is what the list is trying to cover. Eater LA reports that Lielle has a more California-centric wine menu, while Maree expands to bottles across France, Italy, Spain, and more. That makes Maree the better fit if you want Jernmark's food with a broader European bottle conversation rather than a narrower California focus.
Do not overread that into a bargain by-the-glass program or rare allocation access. The source does not publish bottle pricing, glass pricing, or the wine director's name. What you can safely bank on is the format: a bistro and wine bar above Lielle, with the bar reserved for walk-ins at opening. For readers who hate planning every dinner weeks out, that walk-in allocation is the detail to use.
Your first-visit strategy depends on your tolerance for uncertainty. If you want the burger, book the main dining room through OpenTable and go early. If you want to test the room without committing to a full table, try the bar. If you want to watch the kitchen, aim for the kitchen counter, which will also be held for walk-ins at opening. A counter seat at a chef-led bistro trades comfort and conversation for proximity to the line. For solo diners and pairs, that can be the better deal.
The room gives you another reason to choose your seat carefully. Andrea Jernmark designed the interior in collaboration with Lovers Unite, and the source describes clam-shaped pendant lights from Fritz Hansen, wood and cream-colored walls, tall ceilings, pillar candles on wood tables, a semi-open chef's kitchen, and a green onyx marble bar. If you are booking for a date or two-person dinner, the main dining room is the safer comfort choice. If you are going because you follow kitchens, the counter is the seat to try.
Booking Details: September 9, OpenTable, and Who Should Go
Reservations for Maree are available on OpenTable, and the restaurant opens September 9. At opening, the main dining room takes reservations, while the kitchen counter and bar are reserved for walk-ins. That split is useful: it gives planners a clear route and leaves a lane for solo guests and pairs who do not want to watch reservation platforms all day.
do not book Maree because you assume it will be an inexpensive way into a Michelin-starred chef's cooking. Book it because the format is broader than Lielle: 70 seats, bistro portions, homemade pasta, a wine bar, and dishes that make sense for sharing. Skip opening week if you dislike first-service friction, limited dishes selling out, or bar waits without a published system.
Maree bistro Los Angeles is most useful for three diners: Lielle fans who want a less formal return to the building, visitors who prefer à la carte control over tasting-menu pacing, and locals who want a walk-in bar option tied to a chef with Michelin credibility. It is less useful for someone chasing a quiet, settled room in week one. New restaurants need time to find their rhythm, even when the chef has Jernmark's experience.
The peer comparison is simple. Lielle is the higher-commitment reservation for tasting-menu diners; Maree is the better first move for groups, bar seats, and anyone who wants French-California cooking with the option to order selectively. Zuni Cafe is the more useful reference point than another luxury tasting room because Jernmark named it as inspiration, and because Maree's success will depend on whether people want to return for the same dishes, not just photograph them once.
Track what happens after September 9: whether the 30 daily hamburgers disappear early, whether the walk-in counter becomes the room regulars fight for, and whether Maree settles into the repeat-visit bistro role that Los Angeles rarely gets from a Michelin-starred chef working directly above his tasting-menu restaurant.
